Port-au-Prince , Haiti -LRB- CNN -RRB- -- Ten Americans detained last week while trying to take 33 Haitian children out of the country were charged Thursday with kidnapping children and criminal association , a government official said .

Information Minister Marie Laurence Lassegue 's announcement came shortly after the five men and five women left a hearing at the prosecutor 's office .

Under Haitian law , anyone accused of kidnapping a child is not eligible for bail , the attorney general 's office said .

Conviction on the kidnapping charge carries a maximum penalty of life in prison ; the criminal association charge carries a penalty of three to nine years , according to a former justice minister .

Prime Minister Jean-Max Bellerive told CNN 's `` Larry King Live '' on Thursday night that the judge in the case has three months to decide whether to prosecute .

`` We hope that he will decide long before those three months , '' he said . `` He can release them , he can ask to prosecute them . ''

If a decision is made to prosecute , the case would be heard before a jury , he said .

Told that the families of the detained Americans had pleaded for him to intervene , Bellerive said he could not .

`` Those people are not in the hands of the government ; they are in the hands of justice , '' he said . `` We have to respect the law . It is clear that the people violated the law . What we have to understand is if they did it in good faith . ''

Bellerive said the Haitian government was open to the possibility of the case being transferred to a U.S. court but said the request would have to come from the United States . `` Until now , I was not asked , '' he said .

He expressed gratitude for the work of the vast majority of Americans who have helped in the aftermath of the January 12 earthquake that he said killed at least 212,000 people .

The Americans were turned back Friday as they tried to take the children across the border into the Dominican Republic without proper documentation . They said they were going to house them in a converted hotel in that country and later move them to an orphanage they were building there .

`` We can confirm that the 10 American citizens remain in custody in Haiti , '' said State Department deputy spokesman Gordon Duguid . `` We continue to provide appropriate consular assistance and to monitor developments in the legal case . ''

The Americans have said they were just trying to help the children leave the earthquake-stricken country .

Some of the detained Americans have said they thought they were helping orphans , but their interpreters said Wednesday that they were present when group members spoke with the children 's parents . Some parents in a village outside Port-au-Prince said they had willingly given their children over to the Americans , who promised them a better life and who said they could see their children whenever they wanted to .

Government approval is needed for any Haitian child to leave the country , and the group acknowledged that the children had no passports .

Some members of the group belong to the Central Valley Baptist Church in Meridian , Idaho . One of the church 's ministers asked for privacy and would not discuss the matter .

`` I know you have many questions but we do n't have answers right now , '' Drew Ham , assistant pastor , said in a note to reporters .

P.J. Crowley , a spokesman for the U.S. State Department , has said that U.S. officials have been given unlimited consular access to the Americans and that U.S. and Haitian authorities are `` working to try to ascertain what happened -LSB- and -RSB- the motive behind these people .

`` Clearly , there are questions about procedure as to whether they had the appropriate paperwork to move the children , '' he said Wednesday .

CNN 's Karl Penhaul in Port-au-Prince , Dan Simon in Meridian , Ohio , and Jill Dougherty in Washington contributed to this report .

@highlight

10 Americans charged with kidnapping , criminal association

@highlight

Missionaries denied bail because kidnapping charges involve children

@highlight

Missionaries say they were trying to help children leave country

@highlight

Haitian government says group was trying to kidnap children